Capacitors are electric devices that can store charges temporarily. They can handle a greater number of charge cycles than batteries, and can provide quick jolts of energy. If Tesla could find a way to use them in conjunction with—and eventually in place of—their current lithium-ion batteries, electric cars could travel greater distances before needing to be recharged.

Interestingly, Musk originally came to California to study high-energy-density capacitor physics at Stanford. “I did that for a laugh,” he said at the conference.

After being enrolled for a few days, he dropped out of Stanford to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. And if Tesla’s able to push the state of the art in energy storage forward, he may well have the last laugh.